Pre-Paying Funerals
is it worthwhile?
There are times when people ask me about pre-paying for a funeral – usually their own. The main reasons are that they think it will help their family after they have gone. Their family isn’t left with an expensive bill and they want to make their passing as easy for the family as they can.
To be fair prepaying for one’s funeral is not a new thing. I’m sure more wealthier citizens needed to pay for their tomb. Jesus was fortunate to have use of a person’s unused tomb. But he only used it for a few days. Today people pay for plots in a cemetery with the hope of not needing it too soon.
However the modern focus of pre-paying funerals seems to have increased. A quick Googling will show a number of funeral homes recommending and commending them to people as a great idea.
The rational is for the benefit of the family – of course! It can save you money (but does it really?); it makes things easier for the family (not really), and some funeral homes even suggest that doing so it like giving your family a gift (a gift??).
Maybe you can sense that I’m not really keen on prepaid funerals. Many people have been burned by them. And I don’t mean cremations. They are a little like funeral insurance. People can make a great sales pitch for it – but in reality, it’s a marketing ploy more than anything else.
Why I don’t like prepaid funerals
The reason I don’t go for them is because they are promoted as helping families make funerals easier, with less stress and hassle. Well actually, a funeral will always have a degree of stress and hassle. But think of it like this… if a funeral’s home financial requirements are going to compounded the stress and expense of a funeral because they didn’t prepay – then perhaps they need to take a look at themselves.
Yes, a funeral home is a business. But it is like no other, dealing with people at a very emotional and vulnerable time. A funeral home’s job is to help families through this by reducing the stress and worries. Saying that prepaying will make a huge difference just isn’t correct.
So the idea that prepaying will make a difference, isn’t really true. What prepay simply means is that a funeral home has its “hooks” in you. Yes, you could get your money from a prepay later. But that is a hassle you don’t really need.
The suggestion that prepaying helps their family is again another fallacy. It simply helps the funeral home get their money faster. But if the person has the funds, which they tend to do, if they can prepay. Then paying for the funeral will happen. It is just how demanding the funeral home is with getting the money.
Yes, they are a business – just like lawyers or vets or dentists. But there should be a degree of flexibility on the rare occasion there is a delay with the finances.
Is there an alternative?
This is what I suggest to families. If they are thinking about prepaying for a funeral, they should just make a bank account and name it ‘funeral funds’ or something like that. Actually you could have any number of titles – ‘Departure Tax’, ‘Angel Uber Fare’, ‘Glory Train Ticket’…
For us, allowing families to have as much control and say in what they want without adding to their worries is a fundamental aspect of SDF. Keeping things simple is a huge relief for many families coming to us
Conclusion
There are so many demands made on us that are promoted for our benefit. But in reality, it’s just a form of marketing. Funerals are tough regardless. And if a family is going to incur additional stress or costs by not prepaying, then I would seriously look at alternatives.